I spent four years as Forbes' Girl Friday, which to me meant doing a little bit of everything at once. As a member of the Forbes Entrepreneurs team, I looked at booming business and startup life with a female gaze. I worked on the PowerWomen Wealth and Celebrity 100 lists, keeping my ears pricked and pen poised for current event stories--from political sex scandals to celebrity gossip to international affairs. In 2012 I helped to put two South American women on the cover of FORBES Magazine: Modern Family star Sofia Vergara (the top-earning actress on U.S. television) and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is transforming the BRIC nation into an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Prior to Forbes I was at the Philadelphia CityPaper, where I learned more than any girl ever needs to know about the city's seedier trades. I studied digital journalism at The University of The Arts.
I left Forbes in November, 2013, to pursue other interests on the West Coast.

On social networks we commonly present ourselves to the world with our best faces forward, whether it’s through photos of ourselves smiling atop Machu Pichu on Facebook or being endlessly clever on Twitter. And since we all know we’re guilty ourselves, we commonly cut each other some slack when someone’s vocabulary, say, isn’t as extensive in real life as it is online.

But all social networks are not created equal. There is one where misrepresentation is a far greater sin, where the smallest fib might cost you your career. Yep. LinkedIn. With over 150 million people leveraging the site for job hunting, networking and business connections, it’s the one place online where honesty really is the best policy, from your photo to your college to your sorority affiliation.

With that in mind I set out to look for the biggest mistakes job-seekers are making on the world’s most successful social business network. I tapped Krista Canfield for the inside scoop; corporate communications manager at LinkedIn, she spends hours finding tips and tricks to share with the media, and has found some big mistakes along the way. NextNext I got Joshua Waldman on the phone. While researching his book Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies, the social media expert spent five years toying with the site, experimenting with his own profile and those of his clients in an attempt to game the system. Last up, Nicole Williams, author of Girl on Top and, more recently, the Connection Director for LinkedIn. Together, they schooled me on the 10 biggest LinkedIn mistakes, and how they just might cost you your (next) job.

1. No photo

LinkedIn profiles with photos are viewed seven times more often than profiles with a blank box, meaning the decision to add a photo should be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, many people still chose to keep their faces off the social graph. This, agree all three experts, is a really bad call. “When there isn’t a picture, there’s an immediate element of mistrust,” says Waldman, and Williams agrees. “It’s a lot like when you’re selling a house,” she says. “If there’s no photo, it’s like ‘there must be something wrong with this property.’” Even though recruiters would never admit to hiring based on looks, she says that when they see nothing at all, they fear the worst.

2. An old photo or a glamour shot

While having a photo is important, having the wrong photo is a much more common mistake. “I see it especially in women,” says Williams. “It’s easy to choose a photo of ourselves at our best so it makes sense that a woman might use a photo of herself ten years younger.” You look great, and it might get you an interview, but when you walk in the door it can appear to employers like a deceptive bait-and-switch. Even if you’re not looking for a new job, Waldman says, it’s disconcerting to meet someone in real life that looks vastly different from their online gravatar—think of a Match.com blind date gone way wrong. Bottom line: if you’re bald in real life, you should also be bald in LinkedIn.

This isn’t a common one, the experts agree, but it can definitely be problematic. If you bluff on your education information on LinkedIn, be prepared to be outed. You have no way of knowing whether your interviewer’s little sister just to happened to graduate Gettysburg in 2004. If you lied, he will ask and she will know about it. Rule of thumb in professional social networking: it may seem like a vast network of strangers, but the world is truly much smaller than you think.

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Marketing yourself on Linkedin? Think about positioning yourself for a So Mo Glo world: a highly social, mobile and global business landscape. When you create your description and list your skills, take a page out of Marketing 101 and let contacts and potential employers know that you can play in a So Mo Glo environment! It’s great positioning for products and services as well as for personal brands!

This information is great, I have seen so many people who have no idea of the responsibilities of a position and make up titles to promote themselves. When the time comes to go to the interview you can see that they have no idea of what the position is about. I like to add the fact that some people have too many groups and do not participate on those forums. Belonging to a group should be about active participation.

Don’t know about point #10 re: desperation, but I can tell you that after six years on LinkedIn, and more than two actively cultivating connections, I have received exactly zero leads or interviews. Someone will need to forcefully convince me that the exercise is worthwhile for anyone not in sales/marketing or at executive-level. I’m tired of all the hype not borne out by results.

Agreed, the irony that I’m using linkedin is only because “Connections” are important apparently. Other than that it is useless as it serves like a second resume to the resume you already sent to the prospect employer… HA HA!

Thank you so much for this article. As a social media coach, Linkedin is one of my favorite social platforms. I teach people how to use it correctly and I must say that what resonates with me the most is having that picture up! People do immediately think that there is something shady going on. Also, Honesty is the best policy. As a job seeker or a small business owner, one be totally honest especially on Linkedin which is a powerful platform. I am doing so much reading lately on Linkedin because many Internet Marketers are missing the great opportunity it can have on their business. I used to call it my “Secret Weapon” for my business. Now, I’m teaching them more and more about using this as a powerful platform. I’ll pass on this article to them via Google+ and my Facebook page. Many thanks, Donna Merrill

Oops , sorry. I’m trying my best. Really want to see change in the fortunes of societies most suffering, the mind you know. Perhaps show no favoritisms spells out a bit too. I just want to get free from MHA, the side effects have been horrendous on me and others. My dial up connection slows me down, perhaps not as much as chemical loboti

LinkedIn is a great networking tool, but LinkedIn employees (especially any with a title of Chief Connector) are the last to know how to use it.

LinkedIn may be a great way to find a job and find and be found by recruiters and the world may revolve around recruiters as far as LinkedIn is concerned today, but that’s not the be all and end all of LinkedIn and the world of LinkedIn users most definitely does not revolve around recruiters and employers or LinkedIns “rules.”

Every point in this article is a pure truth. But I have a feeling that many users are still beginners and quite a few still do not know the difference between social and professional network. Though the number is increasing by the day, even the recruiters do not make decisions, yet, solely looking to one’s LinkedIn, Facebook profile or activities. But, the advice here is definitely hard hitting and subtle directive for the ‘users’ and ‘seekers’